CAPE TOWN (Xinhua) -- Ghana wants to draft laws to regulate its infant space science industry, Hanidu Ada-Kurugu, the deputy director of human resources in Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, said here on Monday.
“Creating laws to regulate the development of the industry is important ... That would be critical for us to see positive results,” he told a United Nations satellite workshop taking place in Cape Town, on the sidelines of the 62nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC).
Satellite science would help the country’s socioeconomic progress, Ada-Kurugu said.
Meanwhile, Nana Ansah Adoo, Ghana’s top satellite researcher, said Ghana is in the process of “seeking guidance and experts to formulate a policy on space science.”
Adoo, based with the one-year-old Ghana Space Science and Technology Center (GSSTC), is one of many delegates from the developing world who are taking advantage of the conference to learn how to use satellite technology to overcome problems of poverty in remote regions.
“It is one of the reasons that I came to this conference: to share ideas, interact and make connections that could help space science in Ghana to grow,” he said.
Ghana is working with South African scientists to convert a dormant communications satellite into a radio astronomy telescope at the Nkuntunse earth station on the outskirts of Accra, official sources said.
With help from astronomers from the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope bid team, Ghana hopes to resuscitate the equipment.
Ghana will host one of the SKA radio telescopes if South Africa beats Australia in the race to host the huge project. The announcement is expected in February 2012.
The AIC opened in the Cape Town Convention Center earlier in the day, with the theme of African Astronaissance. The five-day conference is the first being held on the African Continent, a move seen as a boost to African astronautical research.
“It is the first time we hold our Congress in Africa,” said Berndt Feuerbacher, president of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF).
“I think this is a very important step, and I am particularly grateful to our host country for helping us to make this Congress a true African event, involving the whole continent. “
The conference is attended by hundreds of representatives and senior executives of the world’s space agencies along with academics, researchers, industry and commerce executives, students and young professionals. it will last until Oct. 7, a period chosen to coincide with World Space Week, organizers said.
The IAC, which is organized by IAF, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), is the largest space-related conference world-wide and selects an average of 1,000 scientific papers every year.
The IAF, together with the IAC and the IISL, holds the IAC every year, an annual meeting of the actors in the discipline of space and consists of plenary sessions, lectures and meetings, in addition to a large exhibition running concurrently.
“This is a very special Congress, as for the first time the IAC comes to Africa, and the Federation celebrates its 60th anniversary here. Alongside the public and technical programs, a comprehensive exhibition will be embedded within the Congress. Once again, this features the highly successful Cluster forum, facilitating the cooperation between small and large enterprises, with a special focus on Africa,” Feuerbacher said.
On the sidelines of the congress, members of Parliament from all continents will also gather in Cape Town to discuss how space can help human and environmental security, according to Feuerbacher.
“For those just starting in our industry, we offer student and young professionals programs and again we will sponsor young individuals to attend the IAC with the IAF Youth Grants initiative, engaging in exchanges of ideas with our senior experts,” he said.
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